Spice up your slice with Indian pizza in Tempe

Phoenix’s reputation as a pizza town is well deserved. Top eateries, like Pizzeria Bianco and Cibo, continuously garner national accolades and attract hoards of hungry locals and visitors alike.

Now, there’s a new form of pie hitting the Valley: Indian pizza. Sometimes referred to as “Desi pizza” or “curry pizza,” this fusion dish incorporates traditional Indian ingredients and spices into a classic pizza recipe.

This trend isn’t exactly new to the American culinary landscape. In 2018, Eater published an article about the rise of Indian pizzas across the United States. Phoenix-area restaurants have been slower to jump on the bandwagon, but recently, multiple local spots have embraced this trend. In the past three months, two new Tempe eateries began selling Indian pizzas.

In one instance, the inclusion of this dish came down to personal tastes. When creating the menu for Avasa, General Manager Akhil Yelle added Indian pizza to complement the lineup of Pan-Asian standards.

“I like eating pizza," Yelle says, "so I thought, ‘Why don’t I make Indian pizza with some of our sauces?’"

Curry N Crust owner Sam Singh saw making Indian pizzas as a way to create something new for the Valley. After working in his family’s traditional Indian restaurants for almost two decades, he began craving something different and decided to open an Indian fusion restaurant.

“My biggest goal was to be unique,” he says.

Singh says the idea for Indian pizzas was partially inspired by family dinners at his uncle’s house. Using ingredients from Guru Palace, one of the many restaurants owned by Singh’s family, they’d make pizzas in an outdoor brick oven.

When he decided to open his restaurant, he figured pizza, a dish “everybody loves,” was a good place to start.

Both Singh and Yelle mention they’re aware that Indian pizza has been around for a while now, but neither have tried it anywhere else, which allowed them to get creative.

Singh began by looking at his family’s arsenal of recipes. He identified a classic tikka masala sauce as a good base.

“It's all tomato-based, so essentially, it's already tomato sauce,” Singh says.

After multiple trials, Singh created three Indian-inspired house specialties for the menu, all made with dough imported from Italy. Although guests have the option to build their own creations, Singh says that the specialty pizzas are the top sellers.

According to Singh, the Chicken Tikka Deluxe is a customer favorite. Starting with Singh’s savory tikka masala sauce, the pizza is topped with chicken tikka, mozzarella cheese, red onions and bell peppers.

Similarly, Yelle first looked at traditional Indian recipes featuring ingredients typically found on pizza, and started with tomato-focused dishes.

After creating his personal favorite, the Chicken Tikka pizza, Yelle looked to other Indian fusion dishes. The Chilli Paneer pizza was inspired by the popular Indio-Chinese appetizer of the same name. The pizza features a spiced sauce base and is topped with marinated paneer cubes, olives, peppers and onions. It even comes with a side of ketchup, an ingredient often used in a Chilli Paneer sauce.

The Chicken Tikka pizzas at both restaurants emulated the dish's traditional flavors, with marinated chicken and a savory tikka masala sauce. At Curry N Crust, the light, crispy dough makes for a standout pie and the ratio of toppings perfect each bite. There was just enough cheese to give that classic pizza flavor without overpowering the Indian spices.

Yelle notes that customer reception has been favorable. Since Avasa’s grand opening back in May, he’s noticed a steady amount of customers trying at least one Indian pizza per visit.

Singh shares a similar sentiment. Although Curry n’ Crust has been open less than three months, Singh says he’s received great feedback, adding that he sees customers from multiple age groups and ethnicities. He partially attributes the success to the novelty of combining Italian and Indian dishes.

“I don't think many people ever thought [Indian food] could be more than just going to a buffet or having tikka masala,” Singh explains. “This elevates the cuisine and shows people Indian food can be more than something served in a bowl.”